Ron Suskind (author of "The Price of Loyalty") on his conversation with a senior advisor to Bush:

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality --- judiciously, as you will --- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

Brad there was a leaker caught in the CIA this past week and fired. I know you care about leaks because of the coverage you have given them over the past year. Yet with this one you are strangely quiet.

Could you explain to your readers why you havent mentioned this leaker?

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Ricky, I can (probably) explain for Brad. Progressive sites are about news that's being suppressed by the corporate-controlled MSM. The article you are referring to, was in the MSM. There are enough rightwing & MSM outlets on TV, newspapers, and radio, with stories like you're referring to. Stories that Brad does, are ones that are not available in the corporate-controlled MSM, whose agenda is profits, not news. You want Brad Blog to turn into what every other outlet is, don't you!!! Just don't go here, if you don't want the truth!

If Brad is going proclaim that leakers are bad and need to be put in jail, he needs to use the same rule for whoever leaks. the fact that he does not makes him look weak on the issue. there is no credibility with him on this issue.

Big Dan, I can find countless blogs here that are in the mainstream media. What does that do to your arguement? Im all for getting President to resign, but he has to make accoutible both sides when comitting the same crime or all credibility is lost.

Martin and Icky: a big DUH to you both! There is a world of difference between someone who blows the whistle on illegal actions by government officials and someone who leaks classified information about matters that are not illegal, matters that, in fact, ivolve the security of this country. You guys are about as smart as the average turnip, or else you're just brainwashed. Koo Koo Kachoo to you two!

COMMENT #10 [Permalink]...
The Old Turk
said on 4/24/2006 @ 7:54 am PT...

(moved up here)

("The Buck Stops Here")

"I am the DECIDER"

THX president bu$h,.. history now knows,...
all that has gone wrong,...
only you are to blame.

Brad there was a leaker caught in the CIA this past week and fired. I know you care about leaks because of the coverage you have given them over the past year. Yet with this one you are strangely quiet.

Could you explain to your readers why you havent mentioned this leaker?

and Martin troll-echoed with:

If Brad is going proclaim that leakers are bad and need to be put in jail, he needs to use the same rule for whoever leaks. the fact that he does not makes him look weak on the issue. there is no credibility with him on this issue.

To which I reply to Martin:

I don't believe I ever "proclaim[ed] leakers are bad and need to be put in jail" as far as I know. If you have any evidence to the contrary, please let me know. Otherwise, there will be "no credibility with you on this issue."

And to Ricky's trollish attempt:

The CIA leaker to whom you refer, like other such whistleblowers, do this country a favor when they help to expose criminal behavior by the government and/or behavior that conflicts with American values for which this country stands.

When the White House outs a CIA agent solely for the purpose of political retribution, and they harm national security in the process (she was working on WMD issues), that behavior is not just illegal, but reprehensible --- as George W. Bush's own father once said (calling it amongst the most treasonous of acts, or such some words).

When a leaker exposes wrongdoing (which was not the case with the White House leaks) such as secret prisons set up to allow America to hold and torture prisoners indefenitely without charges, or exposes a White House breaking the law by spying on Americans on American soil without a warrant, specifically against statutory law, those are heroic leaks by whistleblowers which serve our country.

If you can explain how the outting and destruction of a covert CIA network working on WMD issues or the selective cherry-picked leak of misleading classified information as pure political retribution to justify a war under false pretenses is good for America or American values, I'm all ears.

Until then, you better see if you can head back to Rush and get some fresh talking points that make some sense. Because you're gonna need to shore up your attacks here. The dog you're working with right now just doesn't hunt, boys. Sorry.

In other words, we should all continue to assume the toe touch position, because that's all we're going to get from government.

Brad, I know you are a good man.

But did it ever cross your mind that just having blogs like this where people can commiserate over their frustrations with the government & take hope that things will change from the shared support they get in their efforts here----that the hope & support generated on the blog keeps the citizenry from actively massing in the streets to revolt against this hellishly ridiculous & totally corrupt government?

I mean, as I recently said on another thread, my gut keeps telling me these politicians are making noise like they want reform only to pacify us & garner progressive votes.
If they really do want reform, they sure are inept at how to bring it about.

They never really DO anything--they just make noises like they might--to sort of throw us a bone so we'll be pacified until they throw us another bone.
In reality, maybe blogs play into Big Brother's plan to let the masses vent & give them false hope.
Otherwise, the citizenry may take to the streets in mass violence in one big revolt against them.
Big Brother is both parties in collusion, against the people's good & for corporate goals.
Corporate CEOs along with bad leaders, have snatched control of our government out from under the people.
They already did.
We lost that war.
Now, the people have to wrest control back.
Is asking nicely gone to git er done?
I don't believe so.
Do you?

What other explanation could there be for SOME few elected officials to talk like they might try & do something all the time, yet NOTHING significant is ever done?
It's crap!
They're ALL elected. They ALL should be doing what we tell them or their ass is ours!
THEY should be afraid of us, not us of them & what they'll do to us if we have the audacity to want reform!

George Washington said, "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is FORCE....Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."

What "Quixote" from "North of the US" said on another thread hit me hard.
He said we were all more or less kidding ourselves if we don't start actively mass demonstrating our dissent in the streets & on Capitol hill.
The rest of the world is waiting for us to stop them because it's our own government gone bad. The buck stops with us in the end. "Of the People, by the People & for the People..."
There ARE more of us than them, just as Eldridge Cleaver said.

I believe, all of us ARE morally to blame for the uneccessary deaths in Iraq & all the other injustices wreaked upon, not only us, but the rest of the world too, by our corrupt government while we sit on our "complacent & comfortable behinds" as Cindy Sheehan said, & play nice with them.

Some citizens & others in the world have died & are dying as I write this because of our corrupt government.
Is it fair or just that all we do at home is write polite letters asking our dirtbag elected officials if they will please stop murdering our young people over nothing but corporate greed sometime soon?

Power to the People!

I believe playing nice is bull.
I know we can effect change by turning push into shove.
I don't know that playing nice will do anything.

If your doberman turns on you, do you stop him by asking, "Please killer, will you be a good boy & stop gnawing my leg off?"

Ms. McCarthy was aledged to have leaked information about illegal overseas prisons for terror suspects. The newspaper article based on information regarding these prisons won the Pulitzer Prize. This was whistle blowing regarding illegal actions by the government.

The leaking of Valerie Plame's name to discredit her husband interfeared with an ongoing operation keeping track of Iran's nuclear weapons program. Further more Bushco's selective leaks about weapons of mass destruction were used to lead us into a war on false pretenses. Only the information benfecial to his ends was revealed while all the information saying the WMD's did not exist was kept hidden.

Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

"So it won't be long till the fascists are gone
And all of their likes are finished and done
We'll throw the clods of dirt in their face
And walk away from that lonesome place
Singing:

So long, it's been good to know you
So long, it's been good to know you
So long, it's been good to know you
There's a mighty big war that's got to be won
And we'll get back together again"
Woody Guthrie

Martin says, "Big Dan, I can find countless blogs here that are in the mainstream media. What does that do to your arguement? Im all for getting President to resign, but he has to make accoutible both sides when comitting the same crime or all credibility is lost. "

Martin, I suggest you watch DemocracyNOW! news on DISH LINK-TV & FSTV, and compare this news with corporate-controlled ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, & FOX, and explain to me why there is such a big difference...and then come back and comment on the differences.

Today, the INN Report on FSTV had voting rights activist Teresa Hommel on, being interviewed about electronic voting machines in New York. I have banned corporate news for months now. The truth is addictive, and good for you.

There is a world of difference between the corporate-controlled MSM and independent news like Brad Blog, Raw Story, LINK-TV, FSTV, etc... You must ask yourself, "Why is there such a big difference?" Should there be a difference?

The fact that it is huge news, that 60 minutes, a MSM outlet, airs a story about how Bush lied us into the Iraq War, is a sad statement. If this were commonplace, there wouldn't be a Brad Blog with a story pointing out that a MSM outlet actually published a story about Bush lying us into Iraq.

Independent news is flourishing, because people are realizing the difference between the MSM & independent media...the difference beween lies and the truth. If the MSM were truthful and not suppressing news, independent media would not be flourishing like it is.

Charlene #22 - Sorry if my message seemed a little snarkey, but I just finished reading Beverly Harris's message just after mine in the Howard Dean/Beverly Harris story just before this one. Read it and you'll see where I was coming from. Your letter sounded like it was scolding the bloggers here.

Many thanks Big Dan! I haven't watched network news since Katy Couric proclaimed bush the winner during the campaign! Other than public radio, I wasn't sure what options are out there! Thanks for keeping the light burning!